School Spirit In Ponified Form!

This guy is based very directly on a pony that I just got in the mail.

My school’s mascot is a Greek Warrior. Very much in the style of USC’s “Tommy Trojan”, with crested helmet and all that. It is pretty relevant that our principal is all about increasing “school spirit”, but with no clear plan toward doing that besides simply stating, often, that we need to have more “school spirit.”

On the staff side, “school spirit” has certainly been waning.

There isn’t a whole lot to motivate a staff member to be “involved” in school activities. In fact, I tend to be one of the “involved” teachers, and i find that this year, there are a number of Adult Issues that are making it very easy to begin to opt out. Among them is a basic message from the administration and the Leadership teacher that our involvement is something that they SAY that they want, but at the end of the day, they don’t really want, or even need.

Considering that these are extra hours for which I am very clearly NOT being paid…that fundamental message of “disposability” makes it harder and harder to “gear oneself up” for the next activity, as it were. In fact, there are a few upcoming events that I find myself not wanting anyone to speak to me directly about, because I find that I would prefer to simply move along, and have the time to myself.

That being said…when I saw that the Shining Armor Pony from the new Guardians of Harmony set for My Little Pony was basically dressed like our Spartan mascot, I decided that I needed to have that poseable figure in my collection of ponies that go to school with me. He is not in the school colors…and I find that this only makes me like him slightly more. It’s like I’m trying…but not too hard. Just enough.

Today will see me having a short day, for “Professional Development.” After an hour and a half of “training” in a program that I am not currently using for my grade book, we will most probably have a “Faculty Meeting.” Those meetings normally cover ground that could be covered in an e-mail…although there are various school site elections and position openings that need to be dealt with, so that might come up. All in all, that will amount to about three hours of meetings today…something guaranteed to drain most, if not all, “school spirit” right out of a person.

There’s a chance that the “Teacher Karaoke” school activity will be brought up in this meeting. It hasn’t been publicized, and will happen in less than two weeks. In that same time frame, a report card it due. “Teacher Karaoke” really doesn’t happen without teachers, and if you don’t tell us about it, no one does it. In a very “under the table” fashion, a few teachers have mentioned it to me…but nothing official.

Really…I’m to the point where it needs to be official. In fact, someone from Leadership or Admin should ask me to be involved…if only to demonstrate that they do actually value the time that I spend helping out with activities. The probability of THAT happening is roughly equivalent to being struck by lightning…so I’m thinking that this will be a “pass.”

The Armor Pony without the digitally drawn parthenon background.

Right now…at this point in time, I’m pretty happy with my “school spirit” being confined to a pocket sized, but poseable pony. I need to start conserving some of my energy…because right now, I’m approaching Week Ten, and feeling a bit stretched thin. There are forty weeks in the school year, so that speaks badly to my current pacing for myself.

We shall see how today goes, with meetings and all. I have Princess Pony (who is giant) and Armor Pony to help me through all of these meetings, so that’s a good thing.